The present invention relates to the general subject of mobile information and communication systems. More particularly, the present invention relates to systems and methods for storing and using information associated with geographic locations of interest to a mobile user.
At the present time, commercially-available automotive telematics systems include navigation systems, traffic information systems, emergency systems (e.g., the OnStar system currently offered in automobiles manufactured by General Motors, Inc.), and location-based information systems.
In a typical location-based information system, a vehicle user may request information relating to businesses or other establishments from a database at a service center or on local media (e.g., a CD-ROM) within the vehicle. The service center or local media responds by providing the user with a list of establishments located near the user""s current location. For example, a driver who is looking for a motel can request information on nearby motels, select a particular motel from a list, and then receive navigation instructions for getting to the motel.
An important shortcoming of those location-based services that employ local media is that the database is not only expensive to acquire, but is often incomplete, inaccurate, and quickly outdated. For those location-based services that employ a service center, the navigation instructions are often quite rudimentary (such systems typically do not provide xe2x80x9cturn-by-turnxe2x80x9d navigation, but merely a map with a recommended route) and thus of limited assistance to the vehicle user.
In many instances, a vehicle user merely wishes to xe2x80x9cmarkxe2x80x9d a position and have access to it later in order to obtain additional information or to tag information to that position. The prior art includes approaches for allowing a mobile user to store information relating to geographic locations encountered by the user in the course of his travels. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,023,241 discloses a handheld apparatus that includes a global positioning system (GPS) receiver and a digital camera for recording and using information associated with geographic locations.
In addition to possessing limited functionality and requiring costly mobile apparatus, none of the known prior art approaches offer significant ease of use and appear to lack flexibility with regard to storing, retrieving, manipulating, and using pertinent data. For example, the prior art approaches do not appear to provide a user with significant options for editing stored information or for sharing stored information with third parties.
What is needed, therefore, is a system and method for storing and using information associated with locations of interest to a mobile user that is economical to implement, easy to use, and that provides a user with a convenient set of options for storing, retrieving, manipulating, and using the stored information. Such an apparatus and method would represent a considerable advance over the prior art.